Use family planning services, not punitive laws, to reduce abortion rates in Texas.

When it comes to a woman's right to choose, reasonable minds would agree that a decline in abortion rates should bode well for all of us: Every child should be a wanted child.

However, the most recent study on the issue, showing that in the past two years Texas abortion rates have declined by 10 to 15 percent, presents a more complicated picture. (The national rate has been declining also, but not as sharply.)

Preliminary results, as reported by the Chronicle, "Study: Abortions on decline in Texas," PageA1, March 7, show that the drop is steeper in Texas not because fewer women are choosing abortion but because the draconian budget cuts and punitive measures passed in the 2011 legislative session are creating overwhelming obstacles for thousands of poor women seeking to pursue their legal right to terminate a pregnancy.

But in their rush to stamp out abortion, our state leaders also are wreaking havoc on the most practical, commonsense mechanisms for avoiding unplanned pregnancies in the first place - namely, widespread, affordable access to family planning services. In an appallingly shortsighted measure, lawmakers last session slashed state family planning funds by two-thirds, from $115.5 million to $37.9 million, resulting in the closing of more than half of the 300 state-funded clinics.

By the end of last year, state researchers were predicting that due to this lost funding, births in the 2014-2015 biennium would increase by about 24,000 and would cost taxpayers up to an additional $273 million, mostly in Medicaid costs of caring for those children.

This should come as no surprise. Studies invariably show that when affordable contraceptive services are accessible, abortion rates decrease. According to the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute, "Publicly funded family planning services help women to avoid pregnancies they do not want and to plan pregnancies they do." In 2008, the institute reports, "these services helped American women avoid 1,476,300 unintended pregnancies, which would likely have resulted in about 656,400 unintended births and 616,300 abortions."

Instead, we are now inundated, both in Texas and nationally, by measures designed to stamp out abortion rights. Just a few weeks ago, the Arkansas Legislature overrode its governor's veto to enact the nation's most restrictive law, banning all abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy. And, as reported by the New York Times, state legislatures so far this year have introduced 278 measures to limit access to abortion services and another 18 to curtail access to contraception.

Researchers in this latest study of several hundred women seeking abortions found that in about 90 percent of cases, the women did not change their minds after complying with the new demands, more evidence that our energies and our tax dollars should be focused on family planning services, not on creating more hurdles for women at a time when they are already facing a daunting choice.

But there is hope that reason is beginning to prevail among our lawmakers. This week, the state Senate Finance Committee approved a $195.5 billion, two-year spending proposal that would begin restoring funds to women's health services and education. We urge approval next week from the full Senate, and a speedy passage into law.